I am looking for a 997.1 Cab either 4S or S. I like the wide body and utility of the 4S. I am looking for an 06 or 07 with lower miles to use as a starting point for a mildly tuned car.

What springs are best for a lowered look without compromising the ride too much?
I have a race car I am using this car as a daily driver.

What wheel size and tire combo work well with the lowered 997?

What bolt on engine mods are really effective? K&N intake exhaust etc.

Do you recommend the Sport Chrono option when the car is being tuned? or Especially if it is tuned?

I'm looking to add 30Hp or so to the stock S and get a nice tuned look with a lower car and nice wheel package.

Basically I have a 8 to 10k budget for the mods, What would you do?

Thanks for the feedback! I am really excited about this project.

 

$8-$10k gets you a good used SuperCharger, which will add 120hp. If I were you I'd just go straight for that.

Or you can go the more conservative route:
-mufflers ($1,200), headers ($600-$1,600), cats ($1,600), EVOMS cold air intake ($600), ECU Flash ($1,000), lowering springs installed ($500), LWFW ($800 plus big bucks for install).

-good wheels like HRE's will run you $6-8k for wheels and tires.

Search around here, read up on these and other mods. Lots of opinions have already been written.
Good luck!
CATTMAN

 

I agree with Cattman, except I don't think the mufflers are going to improve much.

As for great wheels, keep looking at the classifieds on this forum, there always seems to be wheels for sale.

 

Can you name names on what spring kit, or mufflers to use?
I probably won't go to the supercharger for power. I have had some more agressively modified cars that are just not good as daily drivers, keeping them in tune and keeping things from breaking has been a problem. Is that different with the 997 supercharger kits?

 

As mentioned above, there are lots of opportunities to pick up lowering springs (H&R etc.), aftermarket wheels (HRE, Champion, etc.), PSE & Fabspeed exhausts, headers, EVOM intakes, etc. at a much lower price than new. Good wheels are usually $2500-3500 vs $5000 new. There aren't that many superchargers around, but those that have them seem to indicate they're pretty reliable. They'll likely chime in here.
For a cab, I would recommend a C2S, and don't bother with Sport Chrono, as all it does is re-map your throttle in sport mode. The C4S cab is the heaviest of the 911 models I believe.

 

i have read of problems with people doing just springs. get a car that already has the pasm, which if you're getting an S model, will be standard and spend 3k on the damptronics which retain the pasm and give you height adjustability.

for power, intake, header, cats, exhaust, or get a car with PSE already and call it a day.


for wheels, you cant beat the OZ superleggera's are hard to beat for style weight and price. less than 2k for a set at Tirerack and they weigh less than OEM's.

i got me a set of the 997 GT3 wheels wich are wider and meaner looking but a little heavier.

 

Why not buy an already modded car and cut your time and expenses right from the start ?

 

C'mon yrralis, you and I both know that modding the car is the fun part regardless of expenses. Otherwise you would have bought a modded car rather than build the unique car you have

 

If your thinking about doing a full tuning program then start with aftermarket wheels. Assuming your not going to go FI and want a quality forged brand then they are the most expensive part of tuning. I think its always better to start here and then work on the performance. I tend to think its a little tacky to have fully tuned car running stock lobsters claws for example. Unless you are going for the "stealth" look which is kinda pointless with a Porsche anyway.

I talked myself into a 5K full exhaust system before doing wheels. I love the exhaust but I should have started with a quality set of wheels and work from there. Just my philosophy...

Now if you do not care much about looks and just want a fast 997 C2 then be patient and wait for a used supercharger and bam...500hp C2!


Jason

 

Here's yet another opinion (one that you probably won't care about):
If you are looking for a 07 C4S or C2S and have 8 to 10k for mods, why don't you start looking at turbo cars? You are starting to get close in price, if you can find it.

Maybe you need $20k to get the used turbo instead of the C4S. But then you have a turbo which will be much hotter than a C4S with +30 HP.

It just seems to me that the $10k is gone quickly on some marginal mods. But if you can swing $20k, it starts to pay out with ton more power.

Of course, it's going to be easier to get a heavily discounted 2006 C2S/C4S now. If you are willing to take a MY 2006 C2S with an in-service date in late 2005 and +20k miles, it's going to be a surprisingly low sales price. But if you are reserving 8-10k for mods, I suspect you are buying at the higher end of used 2006-7, so I think you would be relatively closer to the turbo.

Maybe I'm just bitter on the mods thing. I put thousands into my 2003 BMW 330i and, in retrospect, I wish I had just used that money to get out of that car sooner.

 

What springs are best for a lowered look without compromising the ride too much?

H&R springs give a nice lowered stance and don't compromise the ride too much. However, the stock shocks were not meant for shorter travel and the springs will prematurely wear the shocks, therefore, coilovers would be an even better choice, up to you. HUGE price difference though.

H&R springs- ~$350 vs Bilstein Damptronic ~$2700

What wheel size and tire combo work well with the lowered 997?

Most popular is:

19x8.5 235/35/19 front
19x11.0 295/30/19 rear

Look in the private classifieds, there are many good buys out there. Prices range from $3000-$7000 depending on what brand and if you are buying new or used.

What bolt on engine mods are really effective? K&N intake exhaust etc.

Speaking from experience, engine mods for naturally aspirated engines found in the 'S' are not that effective and gains are minimal. The highest gain can be found with a set of high-flow cats. Aftermarket mufflers are only good for minimal horsepower and torque gains as a bonus, but more beneficial for weight savings and sound enhancement. AWE & Fabspeed are the popular ones, but Tubi, Borla, and Afterhours are all great as well. As far as intake goes, the Evolution Motorsports intake is the most popular. Gains are minimal, but sounds good under full throttle and can be had for $600, and a lot less if you buy a used one in the classifieds.

~$3000 for both cats and mufflers.

That should bring you to 10k. The first $10,000 I spent on my car was on wheels/tires, Bilstein coilovers, mufflers, headers, intake, clear bra, and Carbon Fiber and Alcantara goodies for the interior. Good Luck!

 

I tried a variety of things on my 2007 C2S and in the end realized the following...

The OEM PASM suspension is as good as it gets. Don't mess with success and besides, this is a street cab anyway, spend your time on mods for the race car. You can spend big bucks on trying springs (requiring lots of labor and re-alignment) only to find the ride isn't as good, that you now scrape every driveway apron / speed bump, etc. Consider a nice set of aftermarket wheels with a more aggressive offset instead - make your car more unique and still have the great ride of the OEM suspension.

30 HP is imperceptible on these cars - so you can spend lots of time and money and in the end, the car won't perform any better. That being said, the one thing I do advocate and found was "worthwhile" was: X51 headers, AWE cats, and OEM mufflers with Softronic software to make everything work / feel better (ie: throttle response). Sound was intoxicating with the freer flowing headers and cats.

Sport Chrono - probably 1000 threads on this. It's a "do nothing" option - so get it if you really like that timer on the dash. Yes, it tricks you on the throttle advancement, but if you press your foot 1mm more without SC, you get the same amount of throttle. Something like Softronic will actually do something positive for performance.

Never will use an oiled filter again - not since my factory fresh one fouled my MAF.

Best of luck!

 

Wise words RonCT. I am starting to see that I should probably go for fun things like wheels and GT3 bumper/wing instead of bolt on engine mods.

 

I've always had a philosophy of "modification for performance" only. Nothing for looks as that felt counter-productive. Some will put on things like a wing and not even realize that a wing LOWERS performance by increasing drag. Wheels, however, can provide a significant increase in performance. Go from say a 32 lb wheel to a 22 lb wheel and it's like you just added 10 HP due to the decrease in rotational mass / unsprung weight. And of course, the new wheels will look great

I really do enjoy when somebody comes over to look at my cars and they know things aren't stock, so when I explain things like headers and cats, software, wheels, rotors, and even tires (a 25 lb tire vs. a 30 lb tire), I get the wide eyes and the nods. That with a Porsche, the factory did a great job in performance minded design and specification, and then I took it the next level up with real-world performance minded tweaks.

 

Sport Chrono - probably 1000 threads on this. It's a "do nothing" option - so get it if you really like that timer on the dash. Yes, it tricks you on the throttle advancement, but if you press your foot 1mm more without SC, you get the same amount of throttle.-------

Do you think this chrono makes a difference when driving (track driving) in the rain?? especially the remap of the throttle.
Thanks